GM Brinjal moves forward in India

INDIA: MAHYCO receives seed production approval for BT BRINJAL
27.jun.08
GEAC via Agnet

As a penultimate step in regulatory procedure for commercialization of GM crops, the Government of India through its biotechnology regulatory body (GEAC) has approved experimental seed production of Bt brinjal (eggplant) hybrids to Maharashtra Hybrid Seed Company (Mahyco). Mahyco, a leading seed company in India has been at the forefront in successfully introducing cutting-edge-biotech-products i.e. Bt cotton hybrids. The GEAC has permitted experimental seed production of seven Bt brinjal hybrids namely MHB-4 Bt, MHB-9 Bt, MHB-10 Bt, MHB-11 Bt, MHB-80 Bt and MHB-99 Bt at Mahyco's fields at Jalna, Maharashtra in the coming Kharif season 2008. The seeds shall be produced under the strict supervision of Director Horticulture Research or Director Research of the State Agriculture University with a view to facilitate the monitoring and supervision mechanism as stipulated by the GEAC.
The new hybrid Bt brinjal variety contains cry1Ac gene (EE1 event developed indigenously by Mahyco), which makes the crop resistant to the Fruit and Shoot Borer (FSB). A major constraint in brinjal production, the pest can cause significant yield loss and reduce the number of marketable fruits. Farmers often resort to intensive use of pesticides to control the FSB. The FSB resistant varieties have been evaluated for their agronomic performance, safety and efficacy in controlling FSB and their effect on beneficial insects in Mahyco and Indian Institute of Vegetable Research (IIVR). The FSBR variety is expected to give higher yields with less pesticide use. Mahyco has already transferred this technology to public sector institutions not only in India but also to public sector institutions in Bangladesh and the Philippines.
Decision taken by the GEAC regarding approval of Bt Brinjal seed production at:http://www.envfor.nic.in/divisions/csurv/geac/decision-june-85.pdf Bt Brinjal safety dossier is also available on GEAC website at: http://www.envfor.nic.in/divisions/csurv/geac/information_brinjal.htm For more information about biotech development in India contact: b.choudhary@isaaa.org.

Update:

Why Indian farmers lust after genetically modified eggplant

- Andrew Leonard, Salon, July 1, 2008, via Agbioview

Some snippets

A comment from a farmer in Ahmednagar:

"Presently, I am cultivating five acres of eggplant and spending 50,000 to 60,000 rupees on pesticides for these five acres and getting three to four lakhs' income from this acreage. If I grow Bt eggplant and get two to three lakhs' income from just two to three acres, I will enjoy greater benefits. Bt eggplant will also reduce pesticide costs from 50,000 rupees to 10,000 to 12,000...With Bt eggplant, I can reduce my eggplant acreage from five to one-and-a-half acres and devote the remaining land to planting other crops."

These farmers aren't just blindly accepting biotech propaganda (Mahyco is a partner with Monsanto in introducing GM technology into India.) They are quite mindful of what other farmers have witnessed with respect to Bt cotton, a topic explored in some depth last year in How the World Works in "Ganesh and Brahma Bow to a New God" and "The Napster Pirates of Transgenic Biotech." At the grass roots level, Indian cotton farmers have legally and illegally planted Bt cotton varieties because they have seen with their own eyes how yields rise and pesticide costs go down in the short term.

A comment from a farmer in Aurangabad:

"I have seen the results of Bt cotton and the reduction in pesticide application in a neighboring farm. If the same technology is transferred from Bt cotton to Bt eggplant, and if the damage inflicted by the fruit and shoot borer can be reduced by at least 50 percent without the use of pesticides, I can save money and profit from the use of Bt eggplant."

The most disturbing, and yet at the same time enlightening comment of all comes from another Ahmednagar farmer, who notes an unfortunate result of the current practice of intense pesticide application.

"We have to spray pesticides on eggplants every two to three days. Because of this practice, we do not eat the eggplants that we grow. We know that there is a lot of pesticide residue on the eggplants because we are spraying every two to three days! So, we are not eating that stuff. The eggplant is totally made of those chemicals. But we put them directly in the market and sell them anyway. If Bt eggplant is invented, we will be able to eat the eggplants we grow because there will be less chemical residue on the vegetable. I think Bt eggplant is necessary because when we spray every two to three days, what happens is that new diseases are occurring in the human body. People are buying vegetables from the market and eating them. But they do not know what the farmer is spraying on his vegetables."

(More at Salon)